Wednesday, May 20, 2009

This isn't right, this isn't even wrong

Read this article that was published in The New Sunday Times on May 10. Having read it at a glance, I missed an important fact that I have highlighted in bold. I am certain that the President's Cup is ongoing right now and has never been played on a cernival basis, not that I know of since this decade at least. So how is it that someone as powerful and knowledgable made such a statement in the newspapers?

Malaysian football has been in the pits for decades. But M.K. MEGAN believes there is a glimmer of hope as the Football Association of Malaysia goes to schools

The Football Association of Malaysia is turning to the young ones to check the rot in the standard of football in the country. Malaysia is currently languishing in 161st position in the Fifa world football rankings, 41 places from the bottom. But from the late 1950s to the 1970s -- some 20 years before Fifa came up with the rankings -- Malaysia was a feared team in Asia.That is no longer the case. Instead, Japan -- whom Malaysia used to beat regularly -- is now the top Asian team at no. 35 in the world, and South Korea, a regular in the Merdeka tournament and which was denied by Malaysia a spot in the 1980 Moscow Olympics, is at no. 45.FAM, under fire from all quarters for the sorry state of Malaysian football, has, since last year, devoted more time to the Under-14 and Under-17 age group tournaments.As it involved schoolchildren, the ministries of education, and sports have been roped in to organise the two age-group tournaments.FAM general-secretary Lt Gen (R) Datuk Azzuddin Ahmad said in previous years, the age-group tournaments, called the President's Cup, was organised as a one-day carnival. "Now, the league will span five months. Over a longer period, the players get to play more football and also get proper coaching."